Raiders' blitz packages add punch to defense

ALAMEDA -- In the words of the late Al Davis, the Raiders wanted the opposing quarterback "to go down, and go down hard."

Yet the Raiders have seldom achieved that goal in the style in which they did in the regular-season opener and hope to duplicate when they host the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday at O.co Coliseum.

The Raiders gave the Jaguars an eyeful in terms of film study in a 21-17 loss at Indianapolis last weekend, sending blitzers from different angles to slow Andrew Luck and the Colts after spotting them a 14-0 lead.

When the game ended, Luck had been sacked four times, to go along with six quarterback hits and 10 hurries. All three starting linebackers and all four members of the secondary blitzed at least once, with safety Tyvon Branch and cornerback Tracy Porter getting sacks.

It was the first four-sack game since last Dec. 16 against Kansas City, a season in which the Raiders finished 31st in the 32-team NFL with just 25 sacks. Oakland's fourth sack of the season in 2012 didn't come until the fifth game of the season in Atlanta on Oct. 14.

The aftermath of the Indianapolis game included Colts owner Jim Irsay admonishing his team on Twitter for failing to protect Luck.

Gone are the days when the Raiders rushed with the front four, played press coverage and blitzed infrequently, a style of defense preferred by Davis.

The defense as installed by coach Dennis Allen and defensive coordinator Jason Tarver is as much a shell game as it is a show of brute force.

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"You don't know where we're coming from or who's coming," weakside linebacker Kevin Burnett said Thursday. "It's hard to game plan for us because you have the ability to switch up who is blitzing at what time, and you have the element of surprise."

The Raiders had elements of the philosophy in place last season but the coaching staff didn't entirely trust the personnel to carry it out. The nine new starters who came aboard in the offseason were identified in part because they were fits for the scheme.

"They expressed to me when I came here on a visit that everybody's going to get a chance to rush," Burnett said. "They're giving us the opportunity to show what we've got. I like it. I like it a lot."

Tarver thinks Week 1 was important in that it established a tone and a mindset.

Porter, who had his first sack since 2008 as a member of the New Orleans Saints, said, "It makes it a difficult on the quarterback if we do a good job of disguising our coverage because he won't know which one of us is coming at a given point in time."

The possibility of blitzing players in turn opened things up for the Raiders defensive line, with Lamarr Houston (one sack, one hit, six quarterback hurries) having a particularly strong game.

It's all part of Allen's hope to have a defense that is totally unpredictable while at the same time doesn't wind up fooling itself and leaving the door open for big plays.

"We try and be as simple as we can on ourselves, but bring some different looks, bring some different people -- make them have to account for everybody," Allen said. "We'll do as much as our guys can handle, and if we can execute those things, then it's to our advantage."

The next step for the Raiders will be to force turnovers with their pass rush, either through off-target passes or stripping the ball.

"We've told them, every time you get a chance to take a shot at the ball, take a shot at the ball," Tarver said. "There's only one of them, and we want it."